<p>My RA (who is only a year older than I am), after overhearing my desire to transfer, said that he would be willing to write me a letter of recommendation. I said sure, and he wrote one within a few days. However, as nice of a gesture as it was, should I bother sending it with the rest of my letters? Will it be more of a detriment than a benefit?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Was it good?</p>
<p>Professor Recs will always be stronger. Id advise you to get an employer recommendation if you cant get a professor rec.</p>
<p>^^I disagree on both points. </p>
<p>The strongest LOR is the one written by the person who knows you well and can write specific comments about you, that’s what makes a strong LOR, not the position of the writer. </p>
<p>An employer LOR cannot replace an ‘Instructor’ LOR, like the 2 required for CA schools. It can be sent as a supplemental LOR, but not as one of the required Instructor LORs.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I can see where you’re coming from, but MOST schools (at least the ones I applied to) required letters from professors, and an employer COULD replace it in lieu of a professor letter. </p>
<p>You don’t want someone to write you a letter who has no clue what your academic capabilities are, right? Just my opinion</p>
<p>Sure, it’s fine IF the school says Profs only or IF the school says employers are OK. But for CA schools, the Instructor Evaluation form states:</p>
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<p>Doesn’t seem to be much ambiguity about who qualifies to write an instructor LOR.</p>
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<p>Where in the world did you come to that conclusion from what I said? Often TAs know the student much more from labs/sections that the prof does from a lecture. And if you read carefully, I did not say that a TA was better than a Prof, I said that the person that knows you the best (either TA or Prof) will write the strongest LOR.</p>
<p>But he clearly says RA (Resident assistant)! I agree that a TA should write your letter if getting one from the Professor could possibly lower your chance of acceptance. He’s talking about an RA though, who, for the most part, has no clue what your academic capabilities are. All they can really talk about is your cleanliness.</p>
<p>^My apology nopsypoo for a senior moment! I skimmed too quickly and read TA, you’re correct of course about RAs.</p>
<p>Sorry that I wasn’t clearer. I already have my two professor recommendations. The letter from my RA would be purely supplementary.</p>
<p>A purely supplementary letter usually can’t hurt, might help.</p>
<p>EXCEPTION: schools which are emphatic about not receiving unnecessary supplementary materials.</p>